Israelis will get a real time drill next week, including how to act in a chemical weapons attack, in the annual Home Front national Emergency Preparedness drill.

Tensions on the northern border postponed the drill, which was supposed to take place three weeks ago.

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“Our opponents hold long-range missiles with large warheads and a carrying capacity of hundreds of pounds,” and a “large volume of rocket fire” is a certainty in the event of an attack from the north, said Home Front Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg.

The last time Israel was under an aerial attack was last November, before the Pillar of Defense counterterrorist campaign ended Gaza terrorist missiles attacks that struck as far north as Tel Aviv and in the Jerusalem area.

In 2006, Hezbollah pounded the Galilee area, Haifa and Hadera with approximately 4,000 missiles and rockets that killed 44 civilians and more than 120 soldiers.

Since then, Hezbollah is estimate to have increased its stockpile of rockets to more than 60,000 missiles.

IDF officers have said it is only a matter of time until Hamas and/or Hezbollah put their missile stockpiles to work. “The question is no longer will rockets be fired at the large populated areas in Israel, the question is when it’ll happen,” according to Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan.

Next week’s drill will test Israel’s preparedness, especially in urban areas such as metropolitan Tel Aviv.

Sirens will sound at 12:30 p.m. and 19:05 p.m. on Monday, and citizens will be instructed to enter bomb shelters or protected rooms for 10 minutes.

The annual drill is going high-tech this year and will include text messaging and social networks.

“Everyone will hear the siren,” the Home Front said in a preparatory message to Israelis. “There will be announcements on television and radio. A ‘personal message’ will be sent to all those with cell phones that are capable of receiving them and cell phone providers that participate in the program.”

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu is a graduate in journalism and economics from The George Washington University. He has worked as a cub reporter in rural Virginia and as senior copy editor for major Canadian metropolitan dailies. Tzvi wrote for Arutz Sheva for several years before joining the Jewish Press.

2 COMMENTS

We tried to stop this without war. When a war starts in the middle east it will escalate quickly and end in an exchange of bio/chem weapons and nuclear weapons. I no longer see a way out. It's sad to say it, but let's not be fools and get ourselves ready to fight. Iran wants the bomb and our answer should be no. Russia and Syria want to arm Hezbollah with advanced weapons and missiles that I have to believe now would be tipped with bio/chem warheads and to that I say no again. The negotiations are done. I don't see any movement by Russia for peace, but the sad thing right now is Obama, Kerry and Hagel don't seem to be up on the reality of the situation, and the rest of the world is not willing to live their illusions. I have been warning of this war from about 2006 and wrote a book with more details and condensed it to about 7 pages. It's a truly free read. I encourage you to have a look: http://www.booksie.com/religion_and_spirituality/book/richard_b_barnes/after-the-rapture-whats-next.

We tried to stop this without war. When a war starts in the middle east it will escalate quickly and end in an exchange of bio/chem weapons and nuclear weapons. I no longer see a way out. It's sad to say it, but let's not be fools and get ourselves ready to fight. Iran wants the bomb and our answer should be no. Russia and Syria want to arm Hezbollah with advanced weapons and missiles that I have to believe now would be tipped with bio/chem warheads and to that I say no again. The negotiations are done. I don't see any movement by Russia for peace, but the sad thing right now is Obama, Kerry and Hagel don't seem to be up on the reality of the situation, and the rest of the world is not willing to live their illusions. I have been warning of this war from about 2006 and wrote a book with more details and condensed it to about 7 pages. It's a truly free read. I encourage you to have a look: http://www.booksie.com/religion_and_spirituality/book/richard_b_barnes/after-the-rapture-whats-next.